


Essentially a Punk Barnes and Noble

by winchesters_and_watson



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: and a real human, but yeah, she really isn't an original character, shes a tumblr user
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-18
Updated: 2014-07-18
Packaged: 2018-02-09 09:08:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1977141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winchesters_and_watson/pseuds/winchesters_and_watson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael works at café that is also half a record store and there was a girl who works there with band shirts and an equal amount of sass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Essentially a Punk Barnes and Noble

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first ever "original character" fic, written for the ever so lovely Jesse, who let me ask probably too many questions (there is no coincidence - she's in the fic. that's her). Check her out on tumblr, at atomicliffords! (and check me out at calums-lipring).

It was like, the fifth day in a row Mikey saw the same cute girl with a history of band shirts and messy brown hair that was long and probably thicker than his green mess, in the record store part of his uncles shop which was half coffee store, half record store. Or, as he so lovingly called it, “Essentially a punk Barnes and Noble,” to all of his friends who teased him for working in a coffee shop. Which, it wasn’t really a punk Barnes and Noble. His aunt wanted a coffee shop but his uncle insisted on record store so they compromised and just merged the two together, resulting in the shop delightfully named, “The Bean” and the hottest hangout for hipsters and scene kids. Basically the kids who knew their coffee so they strayed away from Starbucks, which was always okay in Michael’s opinion.

“Are you homeless or something?” He asked, pausing on his way to work in the other half of the store. Getting closer, he was presented a with girl whos eyes looked like melted chocolate surrounded with thick eyeliner,wearing a loose fitting tee shirt with some inspiring quote he didn’t bother to read and leggings as pants with combat boots and a  nametag? he questioned, slowly remembering the times his uncle mentioned hiring someone new. He then questioned the way he said her eyes were melted chocolate instead of brown, realizing he had a crush on her.

“Huh?” mystery-possibly-homeless girl asked, getting pulled out of her zone of reorganizing various records, stareing a pasty boy in a band shirt, much like the ones she owns, jeans tighter than her own leggings and a stupid smug she decided she would kiss off if his personality was as attractive as his appearance. 

“I asked if you were homeless,” he reinstated, leaning against the wall next to them, ignoring the name tag. “Maybe out by the dumpsters or something?” he jokingly suggested, playful smile relaying that he actually meant no harm. That’s how Michael was, constantly making jokes and goofing around, mostly because he loved making people laugh and smile.

She scoffed. “Of course, up in the ceiling, actually. The rats have accepted me as one of their own.” she replied hastily, continuing back to work.

And that response was something Michael wasn’t responding. Usually people just smiled and then told them the truth, it was rare that someone outside of his immediate circle of friends could outsass him, and they could even barely do that. “Fair enough,” he shrugged, walking of to go to work and not be terribly late as he had a small smile on his face as a customer walked into the store.

“Hi, welcome to The Bean!” Rat Girl brightly welcomed the guest, making Michael turn around. “If you need anything please let me know, and the coffee shop is around the corner!” she guided with great customer service.  She would be great at Tech Support,  Micheal thought, finally going to work when he realized that the customer might be his customer.

***

When it was finally break, Michael walked back over the record store.

“Any suggestions?” he sweetly asked, pulling the girl, once again, out of her organizing zone, but this time she actually heard him.

“Yeah,” she started, her fingers conveniently coming across a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse record, probably for some indie parent, which she gave to him smiling.

And that made Michael laugh.  Ridiculously loud, and for a ridiculous amount of time. And that made Rat Girl giggle as she continued her job. 

“So, Rat Girl,” he started when he  finally  finished laughing. “What do you honestly recommend?” He loved music, part of the reason he took his uncle up on the offer of working here part time. He loved it so much he even picked up guitar when he was younger, and always sang.

She looked thoughtful for a minute. “Well, I recommend calling me by my name, Jesse, by the way, and Florence and the Machines, personally,” she honestly answered, for once.

And after learning Rat Gir- Jesse’s name, he stuck out his hand, which she stared at before shaking, looking very awkward at the same time. “Michael,” he proudly said.

Letting go of his hand and continuing her job, she hastily replied, “I know,” over her shoulder. “You’re uncle told me to look out for you and then he jokingly said to report any bad behavior,” she explained, since she didn’t want to sound creepy.

And Michael loudly and playfully scoffed, claiming he never did anything bad, earning a skeptical look.

“What?!” he asked as if he had just been accused.

“You asked me if I was homeless this morning!” she reminded him.  “Also, if you’re on a fifteen minute break, it’s over, as of five minutes ago,” she warned, looking at the clock. After that, Michael muttered profanities upon stumbling his way back to his half of the store.

Just as she was done sweeping the linoleum tiles, Jesse’s ears picked up when she heard Michael calling her name. 

“Whaaaaat?” She called back, mimicking him, standing still to listen for his answer.

“When do you have break?” she heard.   
  
“Now.” she  quickly answered, smiling and not caring because she knew nobody would hear it.   
  
“COME TALK TO MEEEEE” he whined, bored of being alone in his shop.  It wasn’t the hipster rush hour yet and Michael was bored.

“Why should I?” She responded, kind of playing hard to get, pretending she wasn’t slightly attracted to Michael.  She couldn’t help it, his personality was addictive with his bad jokes and laughing to hard, and the twinkle in his eyes when he smiled and his stupid green hair.

“I’M LONELY,” he somehow complained even louder.

Laughing, Jesse walked over to the other side of the store. “What do you want, punk?” she asked, leaning against the wall separating the two rooms.

Realising he had won, Michael did a weird little victory dance, whooping out, “YES, SOMEBODY TO TALK TO YOU” making the brown haired girl laugh.

Walking up to the counter, she asked a newly calmed-down Michael, “What do you recommend?” mimicking the way she was approached when the latter was on his break.

Chuckling, Michael responded with, “Let me make you a surprise,” turning to go make the drink.

Coming back with a frozen drink, he handed it to his “customer” and smiled as she took her first sip.  Flavors of chocolate exploded in her mouth, and it was probably the most delicious thing she’s ever tasted, and she was half tempted to drink the entire thing in one go .

Hesitantly, Michael asked, “well?” to see if his guess of a smooth and rich hot chocolate were any good.

“Seriously? Make me this every single time I walk in this room,” she complimented. “It’s soo good.  I see why your uncle keeps you hired,” she playfully commented before she continued to devour her frozen hot chocolate.

“Aw, I like to think its because of my dazzling personality,” he said sarcastically, with a gleam in his eye and over dramatically throwing his hand to clutch his chest and he over blinked.

And that was the single thing that caused Jesse to laugh so hard coffee came out of her nose, resulting in Michael bursting out in laughter.  She turned bright red and tried cleaning it up, but all it did was make the embarrassed girl fumble even more with napkins.

“C’mere,” Michael urged while still laughing, opening the door connected to the counter that separated him from his customers.  Trudging along, Jesse went on her way to the sink the still smiling boy had started.  Using a wet paper towel,  he carefully dabbed her t shirt, actually reading it as he did so. It was a Virginia Woolf quote, saying, ‘Language is wine upon the lips.’

And Jesse was so relieved Michael was cleaning her shirt, but also horrendously embarrassed at the situation in front of her.  Curse my clumsy self,  she inwardly sulked, until she heard a voice.  “Sorry, what?” she asked, feeling rude because this was the third time in  a single day she’s accidently zoned out as Michael was trying to talk to her.

“First of all, you zone out a lot. I didn’t actually say that, but now I am. Secondly, I asked about the quote on your shirt, Virginia Woolf. Do you read her?”

“Yeah, she’s actually one of my favorites,” she explained.  “She really inspires me.” She ended, risking not to go on about her favorite author. Well, one of them. She had dozens, really.

“To do what?” the now done shirt-cleaner-extraordinaire politely asked.   


Realizing she never told Michael her plans, she explained even further the reasons of her about to be massive student loans.  “Oh! I’m studying to be a writer, it’s actually my dream,” she said with a blush, a little shy of her occupation of choice.  She used to go confidently in her dreams, until she heard all of the critics saying how her education was a “poor investment”.

Michael seemed genuinely intrigued, looking at her with big green eyes, a green that almost matched his hair.  “It sounds interesting, really does, but your break ends in five, and you don’t wanna be late,” he advised instead starting a conversation laughing at his pun, causing a string of profanities similar to his earlier in the day, making him slightly smile as he watched the girl with long brown hair quickly walk back to her side of the store, almost tripping a few times.

***

“When do you get off work?” Michael called out, once again to Jesse, cleaning up after hipster rush hour.

“Six, so 15 minutes,” she answered, looking up at the clock. “Why?” she then promptly questioned because although she didn’t know him for long, his question seemed very unsettling.

“SERIOUSLY,” he demanded, walking over. “I have to work until fucking eight,” he pouted, upset that he couldn’t go and hang out with his friends.

“Trust me, I’d rather I didn’t get off,” she began to complain herself. After checking that there weren’t any customers in the in store, she added “but one of my professors is making us do a group study of a book, and I have to go.”

“But shouldn’t you love reading?” he asked, confused why she was so upset over something seemingly small.

“I do,” she confirmed. “But fucking Kayla Barnes is my group,” she added, nodding as if it were reason enough to hate the group.  In reality, she was one fifth of the entire group and the rest of the group was actually really cool and Jesse’s friend, she was horrid. She had a presence of cockiness, and with just one look at her smug grin, you could tell she felt she was better than everyone else.

“That bitch,” Michael agreed.

“You know her?” the soon leaving girl asked in exclamation.

Michael shrugged. “No, but I decided that she probably is because you laughed so hard you got frozen hot chocolate all over yourself so your opinions on people are probably true, and you literally scowled at her.”

“You haven’t met my past boyfriends,” she claimed.

“That could change,” Michael said without thinking, hoping Jesse wouldn’t catch on that he meant with him and she thought it was just him being positive.

And he was pretty sure he wasn’t when she responded with, “Thanks, Michael, but I gotta go now. See you tomorrow?”

“If you work anywhere from opening to three,” he responded with a smile.

***

Thirty minutes a very annoyed looking Jesse entered the coffee shop with four girls trailing behind her.

“They school’s wifi is down, and literally every other places that offers it free was crammed or sketchy,” she answered without a question when Michael gave her a look.

“Ok,” he shrugged. “Does anyone want anything?” he asked the group.

“Puh-leese get me a frozen coffee with skim milk before I go insane,” he heard a shrill voice ask, looking up at a girl with a spectacularly preppy style and bitchy vibe.  That’s.. different for someone who supposedly wants to be a writer, he thought, thinking of Jesse and the three other girls wearing much more casual clothing as most were in band shirts or some hipster looking attire.

“Alright, anyone else?” he offered before going to go get the very detailed request.

“I’d like just normal coffee please,” one of the girls said, the others nodding in agreement.

“Coming right up,” Michael said brightly, happy to get the other girls coffee at their very polite requests.

Emerging from behind the counter, he carefully placed the coffee on the table around girls who were reading and writing in their books and discussing themes, placing a special frozen hot chocolate in front of Jesse, earning him a genuine smile, opposite of the gingers reaction.

And then it hit him, the ginger was Kayla Barnes. Upon meeting her, he truthfully agreed that she was indeed, a total and utter bitch.

After that, Michael went back behind the couter, cleaned up a bit and then messed on his phone. He technically wasn’t supposed to, but it’s not like anyone needs coffee at 7:30 at night. That was, until he heard some raised voices.

So he pretended to sweep to get closer to the action. He found out they were reading  The Fault in our Stars . And he very unashamedly read and loved the book, and then all of John Green’s books.  He pretty much praised him.

“Ya know,” he spoke up. “The point isn’t that they’re young and doomed.  The point is that they have cancer but that’s not their only, or biggest flaw,” he said, pausing their session as they all looked at him, Jesse with a fond look in her eyes, and realizing that, Michael shyly smiled at her.  “Like the quote from Ceasar?” he prompted, looking at faces but hearing no replies. “It’s Shakespeare?” he prompted further.

“The fault, dear Brutus lies not in stars, but in ourselves,” one of the girls quoted.

“I get it!” Jesse exclaimed.  “It was fate for them to cancer, but it was their choice to have personality faults,” she explained to the others.

Smiling, Michael commented, “that’s my girl,” before leaving to his phone again, thinking he said it quiet enough so nobody could hear.

But Jesse did, and it gave her a really good feeling she didn’t want to question, so instead she smiled for the rest of the study time the group had, because Mikey had hidden intelligence and brought her a drink she didn’t order and called her ‘his girl,’ And then she realized she truly did like him and his sass but he had so many hidden qualities but she wanted to learn them all so she deemed his personality as attractive as his appearance.

***   
After that day, the two flirted non stop, and when they weren’t working together, they were texting.

Michael would send Jesse a latte that tasted more like chocolate than coffee writing stupid notes on it like, “I like you a latte” or scribbling out the heat warning so it just said, “you are extremely hot,” making her blush every time.

Jesse would make Michael mixtapes, usually of songs that explained how she liked him or songs that reminded her of him but then throw in a super loud heavy rock song because she knew he listened to his music a little bit too loud.  He was always a good sport, saying how that track was his favorite.

And one day, he kissed her. Right on the lips in the middle of the store in the middle of a sass off. And she reciprocated very quickly and things quickly got heated and Micheal backed her up against a shelf, knocking a few records down right as his uncle walked in, clearing his throat making a very awkward situation, ending with Jesse promising him it’d never happen again and Michael begging him not to tell his mother.

And eventually, they did date, and Michael became the change Jesse needed.  He was good to her, always cheering her up and giving her a good cuddle whenever she needed it.  He made her laugh all the time and think hard about things.

And she was equally good to him.  She encouraged him to try out for different bands and enroll in some classes, which he did and excelled at. She wasn’t afraid to be just as sassy as he was, which made him smile.

All of their friends thought they were perfect for each other, which anyone would agree when they saw the way they looked at each other as if they were all each other needed, by the way Michael always looked out for her and by the way she always got Michael to calm down whenever he was mad.

And Michael couldn’t have been happier when they decided that Jesse should move out of the dorms into Michael’s apartment, since she pretty much lived there anyways.  It wasn’t much, but it was just plenty for what the two needed.  After they had unloaded all of her belongings from the U-Haul truck they rented for the day, they flopped down on his futon couch, and pulling her into his lap, he whispered into her ear, “Look, you aren’t homeless anymore.”

Laughing, Jesse agreed by saying, “You’re right, although I will miss my rat family.” 

And neither of them could be happier, just sitting on the couch doing nothing but be with each other, and from then on they vowed that they’d always be together.


End file.
